The Time Ted Met Tracy
by FosterStinson
Summary: What if Ted had actually met Tracy instead of just seeing her feet after Cindy kicked him out?
1. How I Met Tracy

"So, does your roommate play shows, or…"

"Get out."

Ted nods reluctantly, feeling guilty about letting Cindy down, but a little hopeful that he might meet her roommate on the way out. As he reaches for the handle he turns back to Cindy and says "I'm sorry." She doesn't respond, she just nods and sits down on her bed. Ted then opens the door just to see the door to the bathroom close. He hovered for a second before starting to walk again. But before he could even pass the couch, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life walked out of the bathroom wearing a pink robe. Both of them stopped and stared right at each other.

"Who are you?" asked the woman.

He hesitated for a second, looked at Cindy's door and spoke. "My name's Ted, Ted Mosby, I was uh, I was just leaving."

"Oh, why were you here?"

"I was with Cindy, but she kicked me out… you're her roommate right?"

"No, I'm a wanted criminal and I climbed through her window to avoid being caught by the police."

Ted hesitated for a second, and chuckled. "Sorry, obvious question. Um, what's your name?"

She lightened up and grinned at Ted. His insides shook. _God, she's so beautiful_, thought Ted. "I'm Tracy. Tracy McConnell."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Tracy." He extended his hand and she shook it. "Oh my god, I recognize you! I know you!" says Tracy. "I took one of your classes."

Ted's face lit up, excited that this seemingly perfect woman liked architecture. "Really? Which one?"

Tracy's mouth extended into a devilish grin. "Econ 305." She chuckled.

"Econ 305? But I don't teach… Oh no…"

"Oh yeah…" she responded, laughing.

He put his hand in his hands, laughing. "God, I'm so embarrassed."

Cindy's door opened and Cindy walked out, confused. "Ted, why are you still here?"

He was flustered, he looked at Cindy and was about to say something, but Tracy spoke for him. "Sorry, I was talking to him."

"Cindy, I'm sorry, I'll just, I'll just go." Ted turned around grabbed the yellow umbrella and the door handle, but Tracy stopped him.

"Wait, that's my umbrella! Oh my god! I lost that umbrella-"

"At a night club on St. Patrick's Day." Interrupts Ted.

"At a night club on St. Patrick's Day." Says Tracy.

Ted closed the door and handed Tracy the umbrella. "I'm sorry." He said once more, but Tracy just smiled at him. He turned around and apologized one last time to Cindy and left.

"He seemed really nice, Cindy, why'd you kick him out?"

Cindy sat down on the couch, feeling flustered and defeated. "He's in love with you."

Tracy looks shocked and sits down next to Cindy. "I'm sorry, what? He just, he just met me! How could be in love with me?"

"Literally, everything he saw of yours he went crazy for!"

"Okay, but that doesn't mean he's in love with me. You should have shown him my room! He would have ran away screaming after seeing my calligraphy set, my coin collection, my chain-mail corset from the renaissance faire, well that's actually pretty cool."

"Well why shouldn't he be? You're practically perfect. Everything about you is perfect, the way you fall asleep on the couch when you're doing the crossword-"

"When did he see me fall asleep on the couch…"

"The way your hair smells… the way your eyes sparkle…"

Tracy had no idea where Cindy was going with this. She couldn't say she wasn't flattered, but she was more surprised when Cindy leaned in and kissed her. Tracy was too confused to kiss Cindy back, so she quickly pulled away. "I might have some stuff to figure out."

"You might."

"I'm so sorry!"

"No, uh, it's okay. It's okay, it was nice… that was the first time I've been kissed in a long time."

Cindy and Tracy hugged. Both of their eyes had been opened that night, and they had Ted Mosby to thank. But Tracy couldn't shake the feeling that Ted was something special.

Little did she know that she would see him again, a long ways down the difficult road.


	2. The Next Day

That next morning, as she was waiting for Cindy to finish getting ready, Tracy couldn't stop thinking about Ted Mosby. He was so vexing, she thought he was really handsome, but something about him just struck her and she couldn't shake the feeling that she wanted to see him again. When he gave her back her umbrella, she couldn't explain it, she thought they made a connection.

"You ready to go?" Cindy had snapped Tracy out of her deep thought.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah let's go."

When they got to the university, Tracy had time before class and she told Cindy she'd meet up with her later. She stopped by the architecture room, hoping to maybe see Ted, but the room was empty. She hovered for a second, and when she heard someone coming she hightailed it out of there. She wanted to see Ted again, but she wasn't ready for any emotional confrontations with anyone right now.

When Ted had left the apartment the previous night he was slightly heartbroken. He'd met Tracy, but he was unable to do anything about it. He fell in love with her the second he saw her. He didn't tell the gang about it because he knew just how they would react. Barney would freak out halfway through thinking that Ted banged both of them, then Robin would start singing "Bang Bang Bangity Bang", and when he finished Marshall would feel bad for him, and Lily would call him a jerk for obsessing over Cindy's roommate when he was on a date with her. So he decided to just keep it all to himself.

He considered telling Marshall and only Marshall, but he knew Marshall would tell Lily and everything he predicted would come true. He wanted to call Cindy, but he decided not to, knowing that she would still be mad at him, and not wanting to talk to him, and she had probably already convinced Tracy to hate him.

So he decided to just leave it alone and not think about her again. But little did Ted know that he would meet Tracy again a long ways down the long and difficult road.


	3. The Train Ride

**A/N: This chapter is set a while after the previous ones. It starts out with Tracy and Lily on the train, on their way to Barney and Robin's wedding.**

"Wait, what did you say your friend's name was?" asked Tracy.

"Ted." Responds Lily.

"Mosby?"

"Yeah, Ted Mosby, do you know him?"

"Yeah! I met him after he broke up with my roommate! But why would he try to be ruining this wedding?"

"Because he's in love with the bride! It's really complicated."

"Oh." Tracy was a little let down to learn that Ted was in love with another woman. "Are you sure?"

"I'm pretty damn sure! Oh, this is too stressful, I need to see Marvin!"

"No! You made me promise not to let you look! Here, just have another sum-" but then Tracy realized her bin was empty. "Bitch…" When Lily noticed this it was almost as if her eyes had turned blood red with anger, and Tracy was a little terrified.

"Give me the damn phone!"

Lily almost tackled Tracy out of her seat, and she was doing everything she could to keep Lily under control while not drawing too much attention to them. Eventually Tracy realized her only option was to fight back. She quickly rolled up her magazine and started hitting Lily in the nose with it. "No! Bad!" Lily stopped attacking Tracy for the phone and sat back down, and they both remained quiet for some time.

"I'm sorry I tried to bite you."

"I'm sorry I swatted you on the nose with a rolled up magazine."

Lily sighed. "It's the only way I'll learn."

Then Tracy sighed. "You know what, look." Tracy handed Lily the phone, and her face lit up. "Really?"

"Go for it." Lily unlocked the phone and was then surprised. "Huh. No new insulting Marvin photo." Then her lip began to quiver. "No new insulting Marvin photo…" Tracy put her arm around Lily, trying to comfort her.

When the train got closer and closer to Farhampton, Lily eventually asked Tracy "So are you staying at the Farhampton Inn?"

"Oh, no, my boyfriend has a beach house out here. I'll be staying there until it's time to go on at the wedding."

"Wait, you have a boyfriend?"

"Yeah, uh, his name's Louis. I don't know though, we've kind of been drifting apart recently. I just don't really think it's meant to be."

"Oh, I'm sorry about that. I wish I knew someone I could set you up with." Tracy smiled at Lily. "I'm drawing a blank."

"You know, someone else I knew said that exact same thing to me a while ago!"

"Really? Who was it?"

"I didn't get his name, but he was blonde and wearing a suit. He tried hitting on me at a drug store, and then I gave him relationship advice."

Lily's eyes widened as if all the secrets of the universe had just been shown to her. "That man is the groom at this wedding!"

"Wait, seriously?!"

"Yes! His name's Barney! I've been friends with him for years, and he was at that drug store because the bride, Robin, and I gave him a challenge to pick up a girl at a drug store while buying diapers!"

"Holy crap, small world, huh?"

"Oh come on, now you _have_ to stay at the Inn with us! I might need your help stopping Ted!"

Tracy pondered it for a second before saying "Okay, okay, fine! I'll go there with you, but I can't stay there! I don't have a room reserved!"

"Oh I'll figure something out! You can stay with me! My husband won't be back for a while, and I hate having a hotel room by myself!" Lily didn't really mind that, but she was going to try everything she could to convince Tracy to come with her.

"Okay, I'll stay with you. I'll just have to tell Louis that…" _Tell Louis what?_ She thought. _That I'd rather stay in a hotel room with someone I just met than in his beach house?_

"What's wrong?" asked Lily.

"I'll stay with you, Lily, but I have to break up with Louis." The realization was finally hitting her. She didn't love Louis. She definitely liked him, he was really nice and considerate, but no matter how much she tried to convince herself, she was not in love with him. Lily hugged Tracy, comforting her. Eventually, Tracy told Lily that she needed to go to the bathroom, but she knew what she really needed to do.

When she got to the bathroom, she pulled out and her phone and dialed Louis's number.

"Hey Trace!"

She gulped. "Hi, Louis."

"Have you gotten to the beach house yet?"

"Um, no. That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about. I'm… not going to the beach house."

"What do you mean? Why not?"

"Louis, I'm sorry."

"Sorry about what?"

"I can't do this anymore."

"Tracy, don't say that. Please. Tracy, I love you!"

"No you don't Louis! You think you do, but you don't. We are not meant to be together. And I am so sorry." Silence. "Say something. Please."

"You're right, Tracy. I don't love you. I'll be moved out by the time you get back." He hung up. Tracy looked at her phone, unsure of what to think. She didn't have time to develop a reaction because Lily busted the door open and said she really needed to do something. Tracy nodded and walked out. When she closed the door she immediately heard Lily vomiting. When she got back to her seat, tears started streaming down Tracy's face.

The man sitting next to her asked if she was okay, and she wiped the tears off of her face and said she was fine.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

"No, I'm okay, thank you." He nodded understandingly and went back to his business. Tracy just wanted to get to Farhampton as fast as possible.


	4. Arrival

"Ted stop!" shouted Lily as she rushed into the Farhampton Inn. But she was too late! Ted had already given Robin… a picture? "What the damn hell?" asked Lily as she looked at the picture Ted had given Robin. She then pulled Ted aside and asked "What happened to the Locket?"

"I never found it. I realized that you were right, it wasn't just an innocent wedding gift. So, I knew what the right innocent gift was."

"Oh, Ted."

Before either of them could say anything else, an exasperated Tracy burst into the lobby, gasping for air. "God Lily you're fast."

"Tracy?" asked Ted, surprised. He thought he'd never see Tracy again. She looked up at him and smiled. "Ted!"

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm in the wedding band. I met Lily on the train and she convinced me to stay here."

Ted looked back at Lily, silently thanking her. He knew that this weekend was going to be infinitely better now that Tracy was here.

"That's great! I… I never thought I'd see you again." Ted was helping her regain her balance. She was still a little exhausted. She wiped a strand of hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear. "Yeah, I never thought I was going to see you again, either." They both smiled at each other instead of saying anything else. Eventually Ted said that he should check in, and the two of them met Lily at the front counter.

"And will the two of you be sharing a room together?" Kurtis asked, directed towards Ted and Tracy. Both of them stood there awkwardly, not speaking, before Lily said "No, she's staying with me."

"Oh, so you're staying alone?" Kurtis asked Ted. He just nodded awkwardly, and Tracy couldn't help but admire him. Part of her wanted to stay with him, but she knew that would be weird since they hardly knew each other. But then again, she and Lily hardly knew each other either. If she had anything to say it was already too late. They'd gotten their keys to their rooms and were about to head their separate ways.

"Hey, Tracy," said Ted before she could walk away. "Do you wanna maybe get together in a little bit?"

She smiled and said "Yeah! Yeah, I'd love that."

"Cool. I'll see you later."

"Bye." Tracy looked back at him one last time and smiled before following Lily to their room.


	5. Closure

The rest of the weekend was practically paradise. Ted and Tracy met up at the bar a while later and got to know each other. They had almost everything in common, and Ted could feel himself falling in love. He'd never felt this way about anyone before, not even Robin! This surprised him, but it made him extremely happy at the same time.

"Why can't I just go up to the Lighthouse?" asked an angry Ted to Curtis, who continued to insist that it was very _romantic_, and very _high_ lighthouse, and he would hate to have to clean up Ted's blood. Thankfully, right at that moment, Tracy showed up to save him. "Are you going up to the lighthouse? I've been wanting to do that! I'll go with you!" Ted silently thanked her as he took the brochure from Curtis and gave him a triumphant look.

"This view is breathtakingly beautiful." Says Tracy. Ted loved the way she talked so sophisticated.

"It's not as beautiful as you." He couldn't stop himself from saying it. She looked at him and smiled, a little embarrassed.

"What? Come on!"

"I mean it, Tracy. You are gorgeous. I have had the time of my life this weekend, and it's all thanks to you."

She stared directly into Ted's eyes, and then they were kissing. Completely spontaneous. Then Ted felt something bad. That morning he decided to have shrimp for breakfast. Possibly one of the worst mistakes of his life. He quickly broke apart from Tracy and vomited off the side of the lighthouse.

"That bad, huh?" asked Tracy as she leaned over. Her face then went blank when she saw the vomit. She covered her mouth, and in the next second she was vomiting too. When the two of them were both finished they stood there in silence. Finally Tracy said "It's like travelling back in time."

"That is exactly what I was thinking!" The two of them got into an intimate conversation about the beauty of things, and both of them were extremely thankful they decided not to talk about the vomit.

The Lighthouse and the kiss weren't the only good parts of their weekend either. Ted realized that he had to quit his job in Chicago. He knew he'd only known her for a couple of days (give or take the amount of time that passed in between their first meeting), but he knew he was in love with her. Druthers was pissed that Ted quit his job, but Ted hung up on him before he could yell at him anymore. When he told Lily about it the first things out of her mouth were "Yousonofabeetch! How could you put me through that! Now I have to tell Marshall that you're not moving!"

"You told Marshall?!"

"…no."

"Ugh. Lily, look, I really really love this girl, and I think she's worth it."

Lily looked at him skeptically. "You're sure you're over Robin?"

He pondered it for a second before coming to the conclusion. "Yeah. Yeah, I am."

Lily sighed. "Good. Fine. You have my blessing, go get this girl, Ted."

By the end of the day Ted and Tracy had already gone on another date. Well, technically they counted the ice skating rehearsal dinner as a date. Tracy wouldn't stop making fun of Ted's Liberace costume, and the two of them shared a lot of laughs over it. Later, when the rehearsal dinner was coming to a close, Barney came up to the two of them, more excited than usual.

"Hey! Girl with Ted!" he shouted from about half a mile away. He kept shouting as he skated towards them. "It's me! That guy you met at the drug store and then we went out onto a bench and had a deep emotional talk! I'll be really surprised if I have to get any more specific than that!" by the time he was finished talking, he had reached them.

"Yes, I remember you! Looks like you finally won the game!"

"Yeah. Yeah I did. It's all thanks to you." Ted had no idea what they were talking about, but Tracy blushed.

"Your name's Barney right?" He confirmed that it was and she introduced herself and they shook hands.

"Do you remember when I said I could set you up with someone but I was drawing a blank?"

Tracy glanced at Ted before saying that she remembered. Barney then pointed at Ted and said "This was the guy! He was the guy I was thinking of! See Ted, the universe has a way of working things out!" Barney then slapped Ted in the face.

"God, what the hell, Barney?"

"That wasn't me. It was the universe." He then gave the two of them a devilish grin and ice skated off to join his soon to be bride.

"Okay, well now you _have_ to tell me what that was about." Says Ted. Tracy laughs and tells him the story of how she met Barney.

That night before Marshall arrived, Ted, Tracy, Barney, Robin, and Lily were sitting around the table drinking, just having a good time.

"It just feels so weird. The gang's all here, except for one of us." Says Barney, as if he were depressed. "That bottle of Glen McKenna 30 year."

The others groaned in agreement.

"Also, where the hell is Marshall?!" this then led Lily onto a rant about how angry she was that Marshall took the judgeship without telling her. Tracy and Robin tried to comfort Lily, but Barney made it pretty clear that he was siding with Marshall. When Ted convinced Barney to come with him to the bar, Tracy looked back for one second, and in the next second, she turned around to see Darren talking to Robin and Lily. When Darren saw Tracy, he almost panicked, but he then recovered.

"Tracy? What are you doing here? Didn't you see the ad?"

"What ad?" asked Robin.

Lily then connected the pieces of the puzzle, this was the asshole that was trying to kick Tracy out of her band.

When Ted and Barney returned, they helped Lily yell at Darren in front of everyone, and eventually Tracy told all of them to stop, much to their surprises. She then told off Darren herself, and kicked him out of the band.

The five of them then continued to celebrate, but they soon stopped celebrating, and Lily started to seriously worry if Marshall was okay. Tracy then offered to take a car and go out to look for him, but Lily was convinced that it was hopeless. Ted, Barney, and Robin tried to convince Lily that everything was going to be fine, but Tracy just had a feeling that she should look for Marshall.

Much to her surprise, she found him! She decided to make him think that she was some crazy psychic by guessing recent events about him and Lily moving to Rome. She eventually told him she was just joking and that she met Lily a few days ago. Tracy and Marshall then talked and got to know each other on the way back. Tracy convinced Marshall that everything with Lily was going to be fine, but he wasn't so convinced.

The rest of the weekend was pretty tame. Marshall slapped Barney, which Tracy needed an explanation for, Barney and Robin both decided to pack it in early, Lily and Marshall decided to go back to their room and hash it out. Too little too late did Tracy realize that she no longer had a room. Ted offered for her to stay with him and Barney for the night, and she was worried she'd be a burden, but Ted assured her it would be fine.

That next morning, Tracy was surprised to hear that Lily had left the Inn last night and returned, no longer wanting to move to Rome. The morning was a little hectic as Barney, Marshall, Ted, Ranjit, and Billy Zabka left to go "teach someone some manners" while Robin, Lily, and Tracy talked with Robin's mom, who had just shown up that morning, after Tracy had been made fun of for bashing on "The Wedding Bride".

By the end of the day, Barney and Robin were married. Ted told Tracy about how he was going to move to Chicago, and she was shocked, but touched that he decided to stay. They enjoyed the next few days with Marshall and Lily before they had to finally move to Rome.

Ted and Tracy had finally made it. They were together, and they were in love.


	6. Proposal

"This time it really _is_ like traveling back in time." Said Tracy as she looked out over the balcony. It had been a year since she and Ted had last been to the Lighthouse.

"I'm just glad I didn't have shrimp for breakfast this time." Says Ted.

"Wait, that's why you threw up?"

"Yeah! What, did you think your kissing was that awful?"

"Well, not necessarily, but now I'm kind of getting the vibe that it is!" says Tracy, faking offence.

Ted chuckled and pulled her closer. They were embracing and soaking in the beauty of the view.

"I don't know how you could improve on a day like this." Says Tracy.

After a few seconds of silence, Ted broke apart and said "Well, I'm gonna try."

As he begins to get down onto his knees Tracy asks "What are you-" before realizing what he is doing.

"Will you-"

"Yes."

"You didn't even let me finish-"

"Yes!"

"Marry me?"

"Yes! Yes! Yes! YES!"

Ted and Tracy embraced in a passionate kiss before he put the ring on her finger. They hugged once more, and tears streamed down Tracy's eyes. She had finally fallen in love again.

**A/N: When I first wrote this story, I had only intended for it to be a one-shot, but I'm so glad I decided to expand it! Thank you all for the positive reviews, and I hope you loved it as much as I loved writing it!**


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